


Christmas Card

by kelex



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Holiday, M/M, None - Freeform, Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-11 07:33:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/795492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelex/pseuds/kelex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim and Blair spend Christmas with a special friend.<br/>Sequel to In Santa's Lap.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Card

## Christmas Card

by Kel

Author's website:  <http://crystalshard24.tripod.com/sentinelindex.html>

Let's be real here. If I owned them, I wouldn't be sitting here writing about it. I'd be watching *them* do this stuff, filming it, and selling it at affordable prices to all interested parties. No Sentinels or Guides were harmed in the making of this story, and they were all cleaned and returned to Petfly upon completion.

Originally posted in The Many Holiday Tales of the Sentinel edition of My Mongoose Ezines

This story is a sequel to: In Santa's Lap 

* * *

Christmas Card  
By Kel 

If Jim noticed the parade by his desk, he gave no sign of it. 

First it was Joel Taggart. Megan passed by twice, just to verify what she was seeing. Henry passed through, then Brian, and even Rhonda made several trips through on her way to Simon's office. Finally the big man himself came out to see the object garnering so much attention, and he very carefully plucked it off Jim's desk. 

A Christmas card. 

A hand-drawn Christmas card, in a rainbow of crayon colors. On the front it was decorated with a lopsided Christmas tree, and two smiley faces, one with a little bit of brown hair and a triangle where his widow's peak should be, and one with heavy brown curls all over. In block crayoned letters it read, "Merry Christmas Jim and Uncle Blair." 

As soon as Simon picked up the little card, Jim put down his pen and looked up at the captain. "Can I help you with something, sir?" 

"Nothing, just looking at your little Christmas card here," he said with a wistful smile. It reminded him of cards that Daryl had drawn when he was younger. 

Jim plucked the card out of Simon's hands and placed it back on his desk, in the place of honor on his computer. 

Simon transferred his gaze to Blair. "Since when are you and Blair uncles?" 

"That's what Laura likes to call us--well, me, anyway. She just calls Jim, Jim. Jim mentors her, and I help." 

Simon used his finger and nudged the card open. On the inside, the same curly haired smiley face had a pair of crudely drawn in elf ears and was on a totally red body with pointy-toed shoes. The short-haired smiley face was on a lopsided Santa body, complete with beard, and off to the side was a little girl in a pink dress that looks like... "Handcuffs?" 

"Little Ms. Policewoman," Blair explained. "That's the toy she wanted for Christmas--outside of a real family to love her--and Santa Ellison gave it to her at the FOP Extravaganza." 

"You mean Cascade's own Grinch played Santa Claus to a bunch of Cindy Lou Whos?" 

Jim groused at the Grinch comment, and Blair picked up the ball again. "We're renting the movie and the cartoon for her tonight, Sir, and we're taking her for the weekend. Jim says the cartoon is better than the movie." 

"I guess that means we won't be seeing you at the poker game tonight, then." 

"That's right, we're picking her up after we get off here," Jim said. "And the movies too." 

Simon shook his head. "I hope I get to meet this kid some day." 

* * *

Two hours later found Blair in the middle of Jim and Laura, cradling a bowl of unsalted, unbuttered--"totally unfun!"--popcorn in his lap as his lover and the young girl strung the popcorn onto a strand of thread to wrap around the tree. 

Jim echoed Laura's sentiments about the popcorn. "Absolutely unfun." 

"Yeah, so why are you sneaking munches?" asked Blair, picking up a handful and showering Jim with popcorn. It degraded into an all out popcorn fight, the Sentinel on his own against his Guide and the little girl. Soon the bowl was empty and Laura was helping Blair pick pieces of popcorn out of his curls as Jim wound the strand of popcorn garland around the tree. "Did Jim tell you we got the Movie Theater Butter kind of popcorn for the movie?" 

As Jim was finishing the popcorn string, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," he said, expecting the pizza delivery. "Probably the pizza." 

"Pizza!" Laura shouted, accidentally yanking too hard on Blair's hair and eliciting a yelp from the surprised Guide. 

"Yeah, with pepperoni and ham and bacon and cheese and mushrooms and peppers," Blair said, shaking the last of the popcorn kernels out of his hair. "Two great big ones." 

"Those are my absolute favorite!" she said happily, squirming on the couch beside Blair. 

Jim opened the door to find Simon and his son Daryl standing there. "Captain." 

Laura's little brown eyes peered out over the top of the couch. "Who that?" 

Blair smiled. "That's our captain, Simon Banks. He's a policeman too. And that's his son, Daryl. When Daryl gets out of school, he wants to be a policeman like Jim and his dad." 

The little girl waved. "Hi Simon! Hi Daryl!" 

Simon glared at Blair as he stepped into the loft. "Teaching her your bad habits already, huh, Sandburg?" Simon looked over at Jim. "We can't stay long, I have to take Daryl back to Joan, but I did want to meet your little girl." 

* * *

Laura took to Daryl immediately and Simon only a little less quickly, and spent a good deal of the captain's visit curled up in his lap and listening to G-rated versions of some of his cop stories. When it was time for them to go, Laura slid out of Simon's lap and climbed into Blair's as Jim walked them to the door and ushered them out. The pizza boxes were half empty on the dining room table, and Blair whispered something in Laura's ear, which got a squeal in response. "Presents for me!!" 

Jim closed the door and came back to stand beside the couch, his hand on Blair's shoulder. "Yeah, presents for you, Half-pint." 

"I am not a half-pint," she snorted as she dove under the tree and came out with two packages, a large box and a smaller box. The smaller box she ripped into first, and inside the box she found a character backpack--Blue, from Blue's Clues. Inside the backpack was a notebook and pencil case--all Blue's Clues themed--with pencils inside. The notebook had a little inscription on the cover. _To my best girl, love, Uncle Blair._ Laura threw herself at Blair and strangled him in a hug. "Thank you, Blair!!" She kissed his cheek and he blushed. Then she dove back under the tree--backpack across her shoulders--and pulled the large box out. Jim helped, because it was almost half the size of the little girl, and she tore the paper off enthusiastically to reveal a toy box that Jim had built himself and painted her favorite shade of purple. She looked at the front and it even had her name stenciled across the front. "Jim!!!!! This is so great!" He caught her and swung her up into the air as she hugged him, and then she wriggled down to fling the toy chest's lid open. "BOBO!" she shouted, upon seeing the teddy bear nestled in there. "You founded Bobo!" 

Jim smiled. "You left him here last Thursday, and I thought you might like to have him back." There were also crayons in the chest, a drawing pad, and a police officer's outfit for Bobo. 

* * *

Later that night, Laura and Officer Bobo, as he'd been renamed, snuggled together in her bed as Jim and Blair sat together on the couch. Blair was fascinated with the Christmas lights as they blinked across Jim's face. "It's snowing," Jim said quietly. "In the morning everything will be white; we'll take Laura to the park to build a snowman." 

Blair snuggled even closer as the fire roared in the fireplace, tucking his feet under his butt to keep them warm. "You're really great with her, Jim." 

Jim just looked into the fire and smiled. 

The End 

* * *

End Christmas Card by Kel: dragonbane4@aol.com

Author and story notes above.

  
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